Battlefield Hardline Release DELAYED Until 2015, EA Explains Why

Battlefield Hardline, the fifth title in the FPS shooter series, has unfortunately been delayed until 2015. with the developer saying that “not having a new iteration of Battlefield each year is okay.”

Electronic Arts is pushing Battlefield: Hardline back to 2015, unfortunately for the fans of the FPS series.

The delay of the title is shocking though for the game industry, as the game now has an “early 2015” date; and more importantly, EA doesn’t have a shooter release for this Christmas.

The reason given for the delay of the game is feedback from the game’s multiplayer beta. Another factor may be that we still haven’t seen any gameplay of the campaign mode anywhere in public since the game was announced at E3 last month.

Regarding the beta, DICE’s Karl Magnus had the following to say regarding the delay:

“We’ve been poring over the data and feedback, and have already been putting a lot of it right into the game and sharing it directly with you.”

“This feedback also spurred us to start thinking about other possibilities and ways we could push Hardline innovation further and make the game even better. However, there was only one problem. We would need more time. Time that we didn’t have if we decided to move forward with launching in just a couple of months.”

On the other hand, the delay could be a really good thing though. Given how Titanfall turned out to be; unfinished and rushed; and the issues with Battlefield 4, EA won’t be keen to repeat. It might mean they’re going to improve the game a lot, and for me as a gamer, I don’t really have a problem with waiting for a little more while. If in the end, it means a better game.

While answering a question regarding how Hardline’s delay would affect future Battlefield release and their annualized timeline, EA Executive Vice President Patrick Soderlund said that EA didn’t think changing Hardline’s release would mess up future Battlefield releases, mostly because EA didn’t think it needed to stick to an annual schedule.

“For Battlefield, I think it’s important to put out the right product at the right time,” Soderlund said. “Does that mean we have to ship a Battlefield game every year? In some years that may be the case, in some years it may not. We don’t need to have a Battlefield game every year. In this case, we chose quality first, and I think ultimately that’s where we’re going to be successful.”

Let’s hope EA learns from it’s previous lessons and releases a good, finished game in 2015. Unless, this delay would be actually useless.